Would it hurt to big up England for once?

WELL, that's a relief. I turned on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain to hear Sir Keir Starmer give us permission to fly the English flag on St George's Day. We should celebrate “our country, our values, our history” with pride, he said. If ITV’s political correspondent Louisa James had any doubts about the Prime Minister's sincerity, she kept them to herself.

- with GARRY BUSHELL

Although had Andrew Neil been questioning him, he might have asked how committed the PM is to English history given that he had pictures of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh taken down at No 10 last October.

Neil might also have asked if the PM’s conversion to patriotism was a cynical election stunt, if Emily Thornberry still sneered at public displays of patriotism and how celebrating our values sat with covertly subverting Brexit, selling out our fishermen, persecuting veterans and cracking down on free speech.

I could go on, but as someone who has called for TV to celebrate England’s national day for decades, any coverage was an improvement on the media class's haughty default setting of self-loathing.

BBC Breakfast ran a short clip of a 60ft by 26ft St George's flag being unveiled in Nottingham, while ITV's This Morning - vastly improved under Cat and Ben - sent Dan Hatfield to a West Sussex antiques fair to consort with Morris Dancers.

He also met purveyors of James Bond books and Star Wars toys (made in England, like the original films).

There was less cheery patriotism in evidence in the evening. BBC1's EastEnders has celebrated everything from American Independence Day to Diwali, but the only time St George's Day featured, it was an Alfie Moon scam.